CHICAGO – The New Jersey Devils made Swiss hockey history tonight in Chicago when they selected Nico Hischier as the first overall draft choice in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. The previous high for a Swiss player was 5th overall, Nino Niederreiter, by the New York Islanders.

Hischier spent his career in Switzerland until 2016 before moving to Canada and had a superb rookie season in the QMJHL with Halifax, but was nonetheless surprised by the historic selection.

“On a surprise scale of 1 to 10, I'd have to say getting picked number one was a 10 because I never expected this," Hischier said. "I had no idea where I was going, but just hearing my name was unbelievable. I hugged my mom first, and she started to cry."

Nolan Patrick, the son of former NHLer Steve and long-time favourite for the number-one spot, was taken second by the Philadelphia Flyers, while Dallas selected Finn Miro Heiskanen number three. Heiskanen is expected to return to HIFK Helsinki for the upcoming season to develop further in the comfort of his own developmental system.

"He's smart. He's skilled. He makes players around him better. He’ll be a very productive player,” noted TSN’s Craig Button of Patrick.

“We’re different players,” Patrick noted of the comparison to Hischier. “He may be a little more dynamic offensively and I’m a little better defensively maybe,” he suggested.

Dallas had its highest selection ever since moving to Texas and selected a Finn with a strong background. Heiskanen, a defenceman, won gold with Suomi’s U18 team in 2016 and a silver the next year. He also played for Finland at the 2017 World Juniors.

The expansion team Vegas Golden Knights, meanwhile, accrued three selections in the first round through trades and went a long way to establishing the team’s identity. Selecting 6th, 13th, and 15th, the team selected a variety of players intended to bring a winning atmosphere to the team now while adding prospects to the radar to prepare for tomorrow.

The team selected taking Cody Glass 6th overall, Nick Suzuki13th overall, and Erik Brannstrom 15th.

By nationality, Canada led the way with 11 selections in the opening round, followed by USA and Finland with six and Sweden with four. The remainder of the selections will take place on Saturday.

The complete first round:
1—New Jersey/Nico Hischier (SUI)
2—Philadelphia/Nolan Patrick (CAN)
3—Dallas/Miro Heiskanen (FIN)
4—Colorado/Cale Makar (CAN)
5—Vancouver/Elias Pettersson (SWE)
6—Vegas/Cody Glass (CAN)
7—NY Rangers/Lias Andersson (SWE)
8—Buffalo/Caey Mittelstadt (USA)
9—Detroit/Michael Rasmussen (CAN)
10—Florida/Owen Tippett (CAN)
11—Los Angeles/Gabriel Vilardi (CAN)
12—Carolina/Martin Necas (CZE)
13—Vegas/Nick Suzuki (CAN)
14—Tampa Bay/Callan Foote (USA)
15—Vegas/Erik Brannstrom (SWE)
16—Calgary/Juuso Valimaki (FIN)
17—Toronto/Timothy Liljegren (SWE)
18—Boston/Urho Vaakanainen (FIN)
19—San Jose—Joshua Norris (USA)
20—St. Louis/Robert Thomas (CAN)
21—NY Rangers—Filip Chytil (CZE)
22—Edmonton/Kailer Yamamoto (USA)
23—Arizona/Pierre-Olivier Joseph (CAN)
24—Winnipeg/Kristian Vesalainen (FIN)
25—Montreal/Ryan Poehling (USA)
26—Dallas/Jake Oettinger (USA)
27—Philadelphia/Morgan Frost (CAN)
28—Ottawa/Shane Bowers (CAN)
29—Chicago/Henri Jokiharju (FIN)
30—Nashville/Eeli Tolvanen (FIN)
31—St. Louis/Klim Kostin (RUS)

ANDREW PODNIEKS